Good health

Alarming number of Aussies hospitalised each year for medication misuse

Jan 31, 2019

A worrying new report has found many Aussies aren't using medication correctly, resulting in hundreds of thousands of hospitalisations each year. Source: Getty

Many over-60s rely on medication to manage a variety of health conditions and a new report has revealed the alarming number of Aussies who are hospitalised each year for problems with their medication.

The Medicine Safety: Take Care Report, developed for the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia by the Quality Use of Medicines and Pharmacy Research Centre at the University of South Australia, has found as many as 250,000 Australians are hospitalised each year due to medication errors, inappropriate use, misadventure and interactions.

Worryingly, 400,000 people are presenting to emergency departments, but at least half of all cases could have been prevented. Furthermore, medication-related issues are costing $1.4 billion annually, equivalent to 15 per cent of the total PBS expenditure.

“Each year, approximately 250,000 Australians are admitted to hospital as a result of medicine-related problems. This is almost four times the annual number of people who are hospitalised as a result of motor vehicle accidents,” PSA National President Dr Chris Freeman said at the report’s launch on Thursday. “And there is an additional 400,000 presentations annually to emergency departments due to medicine-related problems.”

He said at least 50 per cent of medicine-related problems are preventable, but said the removal of the siloed approach to medicines management was vital.

“If medicine harm was a chronic disease it would already be a national health priority,” Freeman added. “This report highlights that governments, pharmacists and other health professionals need to work together to reduce the alarming incidence of medication errors, misadventure, misuse and interactions.”

His calls were echoed by Professor Libby Roughead from the Quality Use of Medicines and Pharmacy Research Centre, who said medication error, management problems and interactions with other medicines all rise as the use of pharmaceuticals increases.

Between 2016 and 2017, two thirds of patients visiting their GP took at least one continual medication and 11 per cent experienced adverse medication events in the previous six months.

“This equates to almost 1.2 million Australian experiencing an adverse medication event in the past six months,” Roughead explained. “Four-in-ten older Australians have been prescribed at least one potentially inappropriate medicine, confirming the need for greater checks and balances in the way medicines are prescribed, dispensed and monitored.”

As such, PSA believes increasing the role of pharmacists in medicines management in aged care homes, hospital discharge and the community could dramatically reduce the number of adverse events and medication-related hospital admissions.

“There is a clear need for pharmacists to lead medication reconciliation and review activities as they are experts in medicines,” Freeman said. “They are uniquely placed within the healthcare system and the frequency with which they interact with patients means they are equipped to identify a medicine-related issue and resolve it immediately.”

The report found 98 per cent of people living in aged care facilities have at least one medication-related issue identified at review and as many as 80 per cent are prescribed potentially inappropriate medication. Furthermore, 17 per cent of unplanned hospital admissions by people living in aged-care facilities are the result of inappropriate medicine.

In terms of hospital discharge, more than 90 per cent of people have at least one medication-related problem post-discharge from hospital and at least one medication error was identified in 60 per cent of hospital discharge summaries where a pharmacist wasn’t involved in preparation.